The Hispanic Millennial Mistake!

By Jose L. (Joe) Lopez –  Lopez Marketing Group

Brand managers are becoming more and more aware of the importance of Hispanic millennials:

•     They currently represent 18-21% of total millennials in the U.S.
•     Purchase more consumer products than their non-Hispanic counterparts

Obviously to brand managers and all marketers they are very important and there should be a strategy to engage them. Agreed!

So what is the Hispanic Millennial Mistake? The mistake is when a Brand manager or marketer decides to focus the majority of its marketing dollars on a bicultural, bilingual Hispanic millennial and thus, shifts a large portion of Hispanic marketing dollars away from its core Hispanics base; that’s if a Brand has one. Many Brands are barely beginning to market their products to Hispanic and now they just want to focus on Hispanic millennials.

The mistake is not marketing to the Hispanic millennial which is a very important strategy. It is when a Brand shifts its major portion marketing dollars from advertising to the Spanish Dominant 30+ year old Hispanic and focuses on the Hispanic millennial instead based on:

•     “Because that’s where everything is headed”
•     “Because we already own or have a great relationship with the core Hispanic Dominant 30+ Hispanic”

Wrong! Wrong! Wrong!

This is the worst thing a marketer can do, ignore its current Hispanic base and only go after what’s cool and new. It’s almost like the story of the dog with a bone in its mouth that loses it because he goes after the bone in his reflection in the lake.

Yes, yes, yes go after the Hispanic millennials! But don’t ignore the base you already have developed a relationship with. Remember, if you don’t nurture a personal relationship you risk losing it. We have a former client who did this two years ago, contrary to our recommendations. The first year it shifted some marketing dollars away from their key base and the second year increased the shift of marketing dollars. Results, they lost major sales from their core Spanish Dominant base. The increase in Hispanic millennials did not make up for what they lost, thus, translating into 2 bad years of sales. They corrected issue that the third year and went after both.

We have another client that did the same with not only Hispanics but the general markets as well. Same results, the good thing is that they corrected their course even quicker and took a more even strategy directed at, both age groups.

Now how do you reach the large Spanish Dominant Hispanic? Yes, digital and social marketing is important and can be effective but, the best ways to reach the Spanish Dominant Hispanic are:

•     Spanish TV- TV viewership still works extremely well in getting your Brand message across. Spanish TV serves as a great REACH vehicle
•     Spanish Radio- listenership is still high and also extremely effective. Radio is great for frequency, great for Brand messaging, and easy to increase by market/city.
•     Hispanic experiential marketing- this is a great vehicle to, touch, sample, communicate, engage, your Spanish Dominant Hispanic and even begin a valuable brand/customer relationship
•     Hispanic retail activation- in-store sampling product education, activity engagement! Your Brand marketing via TV, radio, direct mail, digital are great, but many times you need a “purchase trigger”, a tactic that will create a purchase, a sale, a trial.

So, don’t make the Hispanic Millennial Mistake, do not shift a majority of marketing dollars to Hispanic millennials at the detriment of your relationship with your Spanish dominant Hispanic base.